seattle-marquee

For the final event of the Starbucks Global Month of Service, partners and community members from Seattle and surrounding communities joined together to benefit the Mount Baker neighborhood. The rain stayed away and some sun came through, helping to fuel the excitement of the volunteers.

Through the help of over 700 partners, customers and community members, projects were completed at John Muir Elementary School, Franklin High School, Cheasty Greenspace, Mount Baker Park and Estelle Street P-Patch.

I once heard that the definition of “community” in the 1950s was sitting on your porch swing, sipping pink lemonade and waving at neighbors as they passed by. I know now that Starbucks also serves as a front porch and our stores are part of a community where people come to congregate, to mingle, to get involved!

Since high school, I’ve been passionate about my community and giving back to those who are in need – whether it was to restore trails or raise money doing charity events. When I came to work at Starbucks 13 years ago, I was excited to find a company that shared my passion for the community and I’ve been inspired to do more.

Starbucks has enabled me to work with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, where I watched a mother help build a house for her family that was still living in Kenya. I experienced the emotions of young single mothers who received a safe and clean place to live through Vine Maple Place, an organization much like Habitat.